The impact of Josh Hamilton missing 6-8 weeks

Among position players in MLB, only Royals catcher Salvador Perez (+0.8 fWAR) and Cubs IF/OF Emilio Bonifacio (+0.8 fWAR) have generated more Wins Above Replacement than Josh Hamilton (+0.7 fWAR). So, news on Wednesday that Hamilton will miss 6-8 weeks with a torn ligament in his thumb is especially unfortunate for the Angels, more so given how Hamilton hurt his thumb — by sliding into first base — which is probably the most Josh Hamilton Injury, ever.

Replacing Josh in the outfield for the Angels, presumably, will be recent call-up J.B. Shuck, or they could decide on giving some playing time to Collin Cowgill. Shuck performed pretty well for the Angels last year, given his paltry offensive profile, sporting a .293/.331/.396 (96 wRC+) triple slash line at the plate, and Cowgill — once considered a decent prospect with the Diamondbacks and Athletics — hasn’t yet found his legs at the big league level. In just under 400 major league plate appearances, he sports a .236/.288/.330 (71 wRC+) line.

Regardless of who replaces Josh Hamilton, he will be a league-average filler for one of Anaheim’s few impact players. Mike Trout can do a lot… he’ll probably be the best player in baseball again in 2014… but aside Trout, you have players like 1B Albert Pujols (who’s declining), 3B David Freese (who isn’t very good), a highly questionable starting rotation, and a bullpen still in flux. (They rank dead last in MLB with -0.5 fWAR from their bullpen, allowing a hitter-friendly 6.14 ERA in 22.0 innings so far this year.)

Just as the Rangers are, LAA is 4-5 to open the season. So, just as with the Rangers, I’m not going to sit here and pretend like the ceiling is collapsing… we’re more in wait-and-see mode.

Because statistics are pretty worthless through 10 games. Wins and losses do matter in April, but so many major league rosters — Angels, Rangers included — will look markedly different by the time July and August roll around than they do at this exact moment.

From a depth standpoint, the Rangers are a bit better equipped to handle a month-long DL stint from, say, Adrian Beltre, than the Angels are without Josh Hamilton. It’s not necessarily a depth issue, rather the overall talent of the starting lineup.

Hamilton, for all his shortcomings, is still a marvelously gifted baseball player. It wouldn’t have shocked me to see him hit enough this season to justify the $25 million he will be making. He’s the type of player the Angels were banking on to be Mike Trout’s tag-team partner. But so it is.

Without him, it puts more stress on a pitching staff that already has a hard enough time. Jered Weaver looks almost nothing like his former self — his fastball has been clocked in the mid-80’s so far — and I’m not very keen on C.J. Wilson and Tyler Skaggs doing enough to supplement for the back-end of the rotation.